What is a "sea cat vessel" specifically? My Fast Ferry (MFF), formerly Manly Fast Ferries, has a few classes of vessel, all of which are surveyed for partially smooth waters (meaning they can cross the heads). Only some of the vessels have the full offshore survey which allows them to work as whale watching vessels during the winter.

The private operator of Sydney's ferries will put on 400 extra weekly services by mid 2021 after the state government awarded it a $1.3 billion contract.

Under the nine-year deal, French company Transdev will bear the cost of leasing 10 new ferries to expand services on Parramatta River and a further three Emerald-class vessels for routes on Sydney Harbour.

About 280 weekly services are due to start on Parramatta River in the middle of next year, followed by 120 on the harbour by mid 2021.A population boom along the banks of the Parramatta River is adding to demand for ferry services.

A company Transdev now owns outright has run the state government-owned ferries since 2012 after the Coalition government decided to put their operation into private hands. The previous contract to operate Sydney Ferries was worth $871 million.Advertisement

The government shelved plans in late 2017 to itself buy four new ferries for Parramatta River services due to "lower than expected interest from the market" and a lack of suitable "off-the-shelf" designs from shipbuilders.Related ArticleThe Lady Northcott ferry docked in Balmain shipyard after its final voyage on Tuesday before being decommissioned.Fate of Sydney's last ladies of the harbour finally sealed

Under the new contract with Transdev, the extra services planned for Parramatta River by mid next year will result in wharves such as Sydney Olympic Park, Meadowbank and Cabarita getting a ferry every 10 minutes during peak hour, and every 20 minutes the rest of the day.

Those planned for Sydney Harbour in mid-2021 will include more services on routes to Rose Bay and Watsons Bay in the evenings on weekends, and an increase in frequencies during off-peak periods and on weekends for those to McMahons Point and Milsons Point on the lower north shore.

The F2 Taronga and F6 Mosman routes will be merged so that services run every 20 minutes, instead of every 30 minutes.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the government was seeing "huge growth" in demand for ferries, especially on weekends and at night, which was why off-peak services would be boosted.

"We will work with Transdev should there be an unexpected jump [in demand]," he said. "We are seeing enormous growth and there is the ability to increase the frequency before [2021]."

Six catamaran ferries that the government purchased from Tasmanian shipbuilder Incat were pressed into service in 2017 on harbour routes. They were the first new vessels in the government-owned fleet since 2000 and 2001, when four SuperCats entered service.

Transdev's new ferry deal begins on July 28. The company also operates the city's inner west light rail and has a number of government bus contracts.

The Sydney Classic and Antique Truck (and Bus) ShowOn again June 2019@ The Museum of Fire.

boronia wrote:Transdev will bear the cost of leasing 10 new ferries to expand services on Parramatta River and a further three Emerald-class vessels for routes on Sydney Harbour.

Presumably much like buses are now, the new ferries will be financed by the government and leased to the operator. Don't know what Transdev's credit rating is, but unlikely to be equal to the NSW government's AAA, so if the operator were to lease it would be at a higher rate.

A worthy edition. Hopefully some heritage funding is forthcoming, some of the former Sydney ferries that have been preserved look decidedly decrepit and in danger of taking leaving us. Even the magnificently restored South Steyne has been eating its head of since it was moved to Lavender Bay from its position in Darling Harbour a few years ago while the wharf was rebuilt, in what was reported at the time as a temporary measure, but has become permanent.

I don't see the value to retain the ferry service as far as Parramatta. The western section is horribly slow. By truncating the service at Sydney Olympic Park, you could easily double the frequency of the eastern section with the same amount of resources.

idontknow556 wrote:Lady Heron has possibly been transferred to Sydney Heritage Fleet, it is currently in Rozelle bay as seen on Marinetraffic.

This is not the case (re: the transfer - not saying it's not in Rozelle Bay). Sydney Heritage Fleet has enough trouble raising funds for the Kanangra, which urgently needs hull repair if it's to avoid sinking at its mooring.

No. Transport Heritage NSW unfortunately does not recognize water-borne transport as existing, despite the long history of state-funded ferries not just on Sydney Harbour but on other state waterways. SHF has lobbied for inclusion in THNSW as an associate member, with a view towards applying for funding for the Kanangra, the K-class ferry in their care that urgently needs hull repairs, but the scope of THNSW is apparently clear that water transport is not part of what they do. The owner of South Steyne might have a similar case for inclusion and also needs funding for its continued preservation. However, the state may be giving a big boost to maritime heritage in general if the Pyrmont Bay Maritime Heritage Precinct is approved, a joint federal-state project for the Australian National Maritime Museum that will also benefit SHF and South Steyne (by providing a berth to allow it back to Darling Harbour).

jpp42 wrote:No. Transport Heritage NSW unfortunately does not recognize water-borne transport as existing, despite the long history of state-funded ferries not just on Sydney Harbour but on other state waterways. SHF has lobbied for inclusion in THNSW as an associate member, with a view towards applying for funding for the Kanangra, the K-class ferry in their care that urgently needs hull repairs, but the scope of THNSW is apparently clear that water transport is not part of what they do. The owner of South Steyne might have a similar case for inclusion and also needs funding for its continued preservation. However, the state may be giving a big boost to maritime heritage in general if the Pyrmont Bay Maritime Heritage Precinct is approved, a joint federal-state project for the Australian National Maritime Museum that will also benefit SHF and South Steyne (by providing a berth to allow it back to Darling Harbour).

The South Steyne owners have been negotiating with NMM and NSW government to get a berth at Pyrmont. This one is really difficult because it's a private business dependent on an income to maintain the vessel and there's been no income from it for two or three years. SHF has its hands full maintaining what it already has and, yes, they're in danger of losing Kanangra to the elements.

For the rest of it, Sydney ferries have had a history of being private for the most part of nearly 200 years and I think Transport Heritage would have doubts about funding conservation given this background, compared to trains and trams that have been with government since the 19th century. (Plus they would probably be well aware of the heart-stopping costs of conserving steel vessels in salt water and weather compared to rolling stock and this would make them shy away from it on its own.)

Not sure if they fund ex government buses, they only date back to 1930 and are only part of their industry. Government ownership of ferries (excluding vehicle punts) extends back to 1951 but that fleet was inherited from one private owner and was immediately contracted out to private management. Most of the ferries only came under full government control and operation in 1974 and in the last few years operations (and ownership of some vessels?) have been privatised again. Ulikely to attract state funding.

But more than three decades after they began cutting their way to Circular Quay from Manly, the four Freshwater-class ferries in the state's fleet of vessels face the prospect of being retired from Sydney's most popular run on Sydney Harbour.

It comes two months after French company Transdev signed a new $1.3 billion contract to run Sydney's ferries for the next nine years.The private operator will put three new Emerald-class ferries on the Manly route as early as next year, leaving retirement on the horizon for the Freshwater ferries during the term of the new contract.

Graeme Taylor, from Action for Public Transport, said ferry staff had been told at a meeting last week that the Freshwater-class ferries would be retired, although a date was not given for their last sailings. Ferry masters on the Freshwaters had started training on the new Emerald-class vessels.

Mr Taylor said the retirement of the iconic ferries on Sydney Harbour would be a huge loss.

"They are a symbol of our city – they define us. They are priceless," he said.

Named after beaches in Sydney's north, the first of the double-ended ferries, the Freshwater, was launched in 1982, followed by the Queenscliff less than a year later, the Narrabeen in 1984 and the Collaroy in 1988. They can each carry about 1000 passengers, compared with the Emerald-class catamaran vessels which have capacity for about 400 people.

"They run all four of them over summer and they fill up all trips. These boats take 45,000 people a day to Manly in the summer," Mr Taylor said of the Freshwaters.

Transport for NSW said in a statement that "faster and more frequent services" would be delivered on the Manly route using the new Emerald-class ferries but added that "no decision has been made on the future of Freshwater class ferries".

"Our customers have told us that they want more frequent services and operating Emerald-class ferries on this route will deliver this," the agency said.

The Emerald-class ferries are likely to start operating regularly on the route sometime next year.

The three new vessels to be operated on the Manly-Circular Quay route will be leased by operator Transdev. They will be designed with a strengthened hull, which will reduce wear caused by more intense swells experienced when regularly crossing the heads.

The vessels will compete for passengers with the NRMA-owned Manly Fast Ferry, which has sole rights to operate fast-ferry services on the route.

The prospect of the Freshwater-class ferries being retired comes two years after Sydney's last two Lady-class ferries made their last regular sailings after four decades of carrying passengers.